The Divine and the Cursed

By: J.E. Reed

Narrated by: Laura Horowitz

Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

From multi-award-winning author J.E. Reed comes a breathtaking new series full of love and survival.

A queen in hiding. Two countries at war.

When 18-year-old Arianna is stolen from her family and sold into slavery, she spends months disguised as a half-breed Fae struggling against the devastations of a decade-long war. But she never expected to find herself at the mercy of her country's greatest enemy.

General Rion is ruthless and commanding. He relishes in his reputation as The Demon-a vile creature incapable of love or compassion. With a secret no one can know, Arianna strives to placate him while plotting her escape, but sometimes fate has other plans and rumors can't always be trusted.

She'll have to make a choice. Kill the most feared male on the continent or stay and let a forbidden bond take root. But what will happen when he discovers her secret?

Trigger Warnings: War, Violence, Slavery, Torture, Death, Blood, Starvation, Kidnapping, Injury, SA (no explicit descriptions only mentioned), Loss of a Parent

©2022 Jessica Reed (P)2023 Jessica Reed

Absolutely AMAZING!!

This story was so good! I will definitely be getting a physical copy soon and can not wait for book 2!! These characters pulled at my heart, and I was sucked in! I can't say enough good things about the narrator, she did such an amazing job with this story and it had me in a choke hold. I HIGHLY recommend listening or reading this book!!

A must listen

If you’re into epic love stories with trials and tribulations fated mates strong female leads this is the book for you. The narration is amazing. Her ability to transition from male to female character to character is phenomenal.

A beautiful tale from Alastríona

3.5 Ice and Sand Stars ⭐
Spicy Level: 0.5🌶️/5 (Closed door/Metaphorical)

So I finally finished this book. And it is no mistake in the plot, quality of writing (which is excellent), or the story why it took me so long. It's just I enjoyed this as an audiobook, which I received from the author directly, and I didn't really have a lot of time with everything going on in my life to sit down and listen to the book.

I truly loved the escapism that this book gave me, in those short snippets of time when I was able to dive back into the world of Alastríona and just listen to the tale between the Divine and the Cursed.

This is a multiple-POV story (with the majority of the time from Arianna's POV). Arianna has spent almost 2 years posing as a Half-Fae and hiding that she is the rightful queen of Alastríona as she possesses the power of "The Divine" - Healing. She is currently a slave in Brónach, the country which has been in a decade-long war against her homeland Móirín. She soon finds herself the allocated slave for the Demon General - Rion and over time discovers that he is not exactly what the rumours about him claim to be.

From a "plot" perspective, this story is simple. As most of the reveals and secrets, you know pretty early on in the story. But this doesn't detract from the book as it allows a strong focus on the character development. This is very much an emotional journey for the two characters. It is about how both of them have gone through traumatic experiences, that have left them wounded and lacking trust and how through each other they learn to open themselves to each other.

It can at times almost be a little bit too character-focused that it just feels like there's a lot of emotion at times going on in this relationship and not as much showing. There are a lot of dramatic affirmations, thoughts and feelings stated versus seeing a physical display of these. It's not that I mind, it was actually sweet that this was closed-door and very metaphorical as it ties into how these characters are dealing emotionally. But this does tend to lean towards insta-lovey as very quickly they are leaning into these metaphors but we haven't physically seen much of the development of the relationship.

I absolutely loved the worldbuilding and magic in this. The descriptions of how the magic worked and wound itself around the characters and how they used it were incredibly unique for a take on elemental magic and beautifully written.

I also want to give a major, major shout-out to Laura Horowitz, who did the audiobook for this. She did an amazing read of all of this, and I definitely increased my enjoyment of the story. I loved the way that she managed to give a personality and a distinct voice to every single one of the characters that were portrayed.

So ultimately, if you want:
▶ Enemies to Lovers
▶ Age Gap
▶ Captive/Captor
▶ Warring Kingdoms
▶ Hidden Identity
▶ Character Driven/Emotional

This is definitely for you!

Love and forgiveness is what will heal a broken people.

This was a similar story and trope to most in the fae/fantasy realm BUT the twist it brought hand me on the edge of my seat, gasping with fear and loving the excitement and journey these characters went on.

We all are capable of being monsters when we face the world unloved and alone. Love is the key to change a foster into a hero while leaving the door open to change a hero into a monster to be feared for the ones she loves!

This Surprised Me

I really thought I knew what this story was going to be when I began listening to it. however the author did manage to surprise me with the different personalities of the two main protagonists. I am very much looking forward to the sequel.

Imma need the next book

Please drop the recording for the next book. I need to know what happens next please..... pretty please

Thoroughly enjoyable story!!

I really enjoyed this story, binging it in a single day. It has the fae, slavery, discrimination, fated mates, an angsty territorial but gentle male lead, strong female lead, and star-crossed lovers vibes. While I love the vulnerability and love and intimacy between the characters, as well as the well written character development. The continued self loathing of one of the characters had me wanting to shake them while screaming that “it doesn’t matter! Let them decide if they want to love you!! Freaking knock it off and just let them love you ya friggin dingleberry!!!! Just shut up and freaking kiss them you dingus!!!!!!!”

HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

The unchanged self loathing is pretty much the only thing that made the story 4/5 instead of 5/5.

CANT WAIT FOR THE NEXT BOOK!!!

the characters

this story was absolutely amazing! it was unique and I enjoyed the storyline and characters. I cannot wait for the next book!

Absolutely worth it!

I loved this book. narraration was great, they story was beautifully written. I can't wait for book 2

quick and enjoyable

I liked the story and the narrarator. The plot was interesting, kept me listening, the slow burn was good overall and I liked all the characters. looking forward to the next one!